Urlacher: “Two of the People I Don’t Care About: Fans or Media”

Brian Urlacher is sidelined by injury, but the Bears linebacker was quick to rally to the defense of coach Lovie Smith after Sunday’s 21-13 loss to the Packers, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Appearing Sunday night with sports anchor Lou Canellis on WFLD-Ch. 32, Urlacher bristled when told that fans and the media were being critical of Smith.

“Two of the people I don’t care about: fans or media,” Urlacher said. “They can say what they want to about our head coach, about our players. … It does bother me. They don’t know what they’re talking about, obviously.

“I know there are a lot of experts in the media, a bunch of smart guys out there who know exactly what they’re talking about all the time. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Lovie is the head coach of this football team and hopefully will be for a long time.”

Urlacher said Smith retains the respect of his players for the way he keeps his cool during trying times.

“He’s not going to call a player out in front of the people, he’ll do it privately, which is the way it should be handled,” Urlacher said. “He’s not one of those coaches who’s going to go out there and yell and scream at you. That’s just not his style and we appreciate that. We know when it’s time to play, we just haven’t played well. It’s not his fault we haven’t played well. He can’t get out there and do it for us, we have to do it ourselves.”